After entering the desert, Changsheng did not go straight west, but to the southwest. The Tingzhou he was currently in was not on the main road of the Silk Road. The Ni family did not take this road when they moved westward, but took a road to the south. Then The road is located on the national border between the Gaochang Uygur and Tubo tribes.
Changsheng set foot in the desert for the first time. Facing the vast expanse of yellow sand, he felt a little bit novel and a little nervous. Although Young Master Hei had followed everyone in the Ni family to the Western Regions, he did not take this path. He could only find the way to go there that day. Only the Black Master can know the way to the Western Region.
The sand is much softer than the soil. Running on it requires more effort for Young Master Hei, and his speed is greatly affected. Young Master Hei has crossed the desert twice and has gained experience. When running, he always follows the ridges of the sand dunes. Never set foot in the low area between the two dunes.
As night fell, the temperature dropped, and the snakes and insects in the desert began to go out to look for food. Young Master Hei was bitten before he ran very far. The one that attacked Young Master Hei was a venomous snake. Fortunately, Young Master Hei was gifted and immune to all venomous snakes. Don't hurt it.
Realizing that he had been bitten, Mr. Black immediately slowed down. It slowed down not because it was injured, but because it wanted to go back for revenge. It ran back and stomped on the poisonous snake. After being still angry, it opened its mouth and bit the poisonous snake, shook its hair and pulled it. Only after biting off the poisonous snake did he calm down the anger in his heart.
At midnight, an abandoned city appeared in the desert. Many years ago, this place was not covered by the desert and was once inhabited.
This city is very small, and it has been abandoned for many years. There are only some ruins left in the city, and no decent buildings can be seen anymore. However, Changsheng still confirmed the name of this city through a broken plaque. The name of this small city is Yanqi. .
Changsheng, who is in charge of the Ministry of Household Affairs, has some impressions of this name. When the Tang Dynasty was at its peak, it established four Anxi towns in the Western Regions, and Yanqi was one of them. However, later on, when the Tang Dynasty's national power declined, the Four Anxi towns were gradually annexed by Tubo, and the imperial court Too busy to take care of themselves, they are unable to send troops for reinforcements.
It has been more than 270 years since the founding of the Tang Dynasty. The previous 130 years were very glorious. After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Dynasty began to decline. Although the national power was not what it used to be, it could still maintain the illusion of prosperity. Not long ago, the Huangchao Rebellion had a devastating impact on the Tang Dynasty. While quelling the Huangchao Rebellion, the vassal town began to support its own troops. After quelling the Huangchao Rebellion, the vassal town became invincible.
Confirming that the abandoned city in front of him was Yanqi, Changsheng knew that he was not lost. There was a map of the Tang Dynasty hanging in the Ministry of Household Affairs. It was an old map drawn in the prosperous age. On that map, Yanqi was still the territory of the Tang Dynasty.
Changsheng brought a water bag and dry food with him. The Taiping Company had fed Young Master Hei when he was participating in the auction, so he was not hungry or thirsty at this time. Changsheng drank some water and continued on his way.
What Li Dexin said about Yutian being more than a thousand miles away from Tingzhou refers to the straight-line distance. In fact, except for flying birds and homing pigeons, no one can walk in a straight line. In addition, Changsheng needs to circle the southwest to find the path that the black master is familiar with, so it is true. The distance is much farther than the more than a thousand miles Li Dexin said.
At dawn, the wind suddenly came up without any warning. After the wind started, the wind quickly became stronger. After a while, there was flying sand and rocks, and the clouds blocked the sun.
It was the first time Changsheng encountered this situation, so he couldn't help but feel a little nervous. Young Master Hei must have encountered similar situations before, and when he saw the situation was bad, he immediately chose to run with the wind.
The previous route was diagonally to the southwest, but at this time the wind was blowing from the southeast, blowing to the northwest. If he ran with the wind, he would run into the depths of the desert. Changsheng was worried that he would lose his way after going deep into the desert, so he tried to kill Young Master Hei. He lay down in a sheltered place to avoid the wind, but the black master did not listen and kept running with the wind.
At first, Changsheng had many doubts. As time went by, he finally understood why Mr. Hei didn't lie down and hide under the sand dunes. This is because the sand dunes in the desert are different from the mountains outside. The sand dunes will move with the wind under the strong wind. If If you lie down in place for a long time, you will be buried by the moving dunes.
The yellow sand in the sky is like the ghost land of the underworld, and the piercing wind is like the cry of thousands of ghosts. In this situation, Changsheng can do nothing but lie low on the horse, letting the black master rush towards the depths of the desert.
People who practice Taoism never think that humans can defeat heaven. All they understand and understand is to obey nature and respond to others. When in dangerous situations, Changsheng feels more and more powerful about heaven and earth and how insignificant he is. Don’t say that he only has the cultivation of a big hole and a deep blue aura, like This dangerous situation is at the peak of Purple Qi, and Taixuan masters are helpless.
Because he was running with the wind, Young Master Hei's speed was extremely astonishing. With the help of the wind, he could even jump seven feet when encountering a ravine, as if he were flying through the clouds and mist.
This situation made Chang Sheng suddenly come up with a strange idea. The black master is extremely talented. Under the influence and change of the corpse poison, his meridians are much stronger than those of ordinary horses. If the black master's meridians are enough to withstand the purple energy rush, If you attack, you can pour your own spiritual energy into the meridians of Young Master Hei, and then you will have the possibility of riding him through the sky.
Purple Qi is the superior state that all qi practitioners dream of, and it is very different from red and blue spiritual energy. The reason why practitioners value purple qi so much is not only the tempering and improvement of themselves by purple qi, but also a large part of the reason. It's because after being promoted to the purple energy, you can fly through the sky. The so-called flying in the sky is not soaring into the clouds and riding on the mist, but hovering in the air and flying through the sky with one use of force. The lilac flying in the mountain can fly two miles away with one use of force. , Dongyuan Purple Qi can fly five miles away with one use of force, while Deep Purple Taixuan is even more terrifying, it can fly eight miles away with one use of force.
Since Changsheng only has the cultivation level of the Big Cave at this time, the spiritual energy cannot be released outside the body, so it is impossible to verify whether this idea is feasible, but I have a little more hope in my heart. I must try it after I advance to the mountain cultivation level. If Young Master Hei can really use his spiritual energy to fly across the sky, long-distance raids in the future won't have to be as strenuous as this time. He can ignore obstacles on the ground and go straight like a bird.
The strong wind started at dawn and lasted for a full three hours. Young Master Hei also ran with the wind for three hours. When the strong wind stopped and the dust settled, one man and one horse had gone deep into the hinterland of the desert and no one knew where they were.
Young Master Hei knew that Chang Sheng had brought dry food. When Chang Sheng got off his horse and relieved himself, he went to pick up the baggage behind him.
Changsheng tied the belt around his waist and took out a piece of bread from his bag, tore off a piece and stuffed it into its mouth, "It's good to let you run around. Now you're lost."
Mr. Black is very smart and can understand short and clear words, but he cannot understand words that are too long or too complicated. After running for so long, he is also a little hungry, and he will chew the dough with his teeth as soon as it enters his mouth. I want more after eating.
Changsheng also took a few bites, and then gave the remaining half of the pancake to Mr. Hei, while he took out the water bag and drank water.
I drank water myself, and wanted to give water to Young Master Hei, but Young Master Hei was not thirsty. There are many reasons why Hei Young Master can run long distances day and night, one of which is that his blood is cool and he will not sweat and become dehydrated.
Changsheng was just lost, but not lost. At this time, the sun was shining brightly, and he could accurately judge the southeast, northwest, and northwest.
After identifying the direction, he rode on Hei Gongzi and continued westward. When it was late afternoon, Changsheng suddenly found a dead tree in front of him. This dead tree was half an arm thick and lying across the sand dunes. It had been dead for many years.
Trees are rare in sand dunes and can only be seen occasionally in the Gobi Desert. There is no grass growing deep in the desert, so naturally there are no trees.
Just when Changsheng lowered his head to look at the dead tree, Young Master Hei had been looking to the west. Changsheng followed his line of sight and looked to the west, only to see a city vaguely appearing more than ten miles away.
People who practice qi have clear ears and clear eyes, and can see further than ordinary people. The city in front is not big, covering an area of only four or five miles, but it is relatively well preserved. If you look closely, you can see that there are still figures shaking on the wall. .
When he found someone, Changsheng rode there. He didn't know where he was at the moment and needed to determine his current location.
Due to the serious lack of water deep in the desert, Changsheng saw that the small town in front of him had long been abandoned, and the figures on the city wall were just merchants passing by to rest. As the distance approached, he was surprised to find that there were a few trees around the small town. It shows that there is a water source in the small town. From this point of view, the small town should not be abandoned, but has always been inhabited.
After climbing over several sand dunes, we were less than five miles away from the small town. Only then did Chang Sheng realize that there were many people standing on the wall of the small town, and there were also many people surrounding the city. Most of them were riding horses, and some were Some rode camels.
The weapons would flash under the sunlight, and Changsheng could tell from this that those under the city were carrying weapons and had unsheathed them.
There were also some sand dunes around the small town. The situation was unknown. Chang Sheng gradually approached the small town from the north through the cover of the sand dunes. As the distance shortened, Chang Sheng was surprised to find that the soldiers standing on the wall were wearing Tang Army armor, but they were all older. They are very big, the youngest must be forty or fifty years old.
In addition to these veterans wearing Tang Army armor, Chang Sheng also discovered a flag floating on the wall of the small town. The flag was semicircular, with a black interior, a gear-shaped edge, and a black horizontal ribbon on it.
Changsheng was even more shocked when he saw the style of the flag clearly. As an official of the imperial court, he naturally knew the flag of the Tang army. The flags of the Tang Dynasty army all had this style. How could there be an army of the Tang Dynasty in this vast desert?
The flags of the Tang army were also slightly different. The surnames of the commanders were embroidered in the middle of the flags. However, the flags on the wall were extremely worn, faded, and fluttering in the wind. Therefore, Changsheng looked at them for a long time and could not see clearly what was embroidered on the flags. What word is it.
However, although he did not see it clearly, he heard it clearly. At this time, the people besieging the city were shouting loudly, asking the defenders to open the city gate and accept the city to surrender. The soldiers on the city wall retorted righteously, saying that the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were brave. If you are fearless, how can you surrender to horse thieves and bandits?
Changsheng held his breath and listened carefully. At this time, the besieging party was still trying to persuade them to surrender. He only said that Zhang Yichao had been dead for many years, and the Tang Dynasty had long abandoned them. In these years, they had been living in poverty and hardship. As long as they surrendered the city, , Ma Kashan gave them money and money, and let them go back to reunite with their families.
Hearing the words of the besieging party, Changsheng suddenly realized that Zhang Yichao was a military general of the Tang Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, he was an official of the Guiyi Army. Thirty years ago, he led his troops to defeat Tibet and recaptured many cities in Hexi. General Zhang was a loyal minister. , national hero, it turns out that these veterans are all his subordinates.
Changsheng secretly applauded when he learned that the people besieging the city were from Maka Mountain. He couldn't find any place after breaking through the iron shoes, and it took no effort to get there. He unexpectedly encountered this group of bandits who did all kinds of evil.
Deciding to take action, Changsheng began to observe the number of enemies and ourselves. There were less than a hundred soldiers on the city wall, and there were at least more than 500 horse bandits besieging the city. In addition to carrying bows and arrows, the horse bandits also brought ladders and other siege equipment.
While Chang Sheng was observing the enemy's situation, the soldiers guarding the city loudly replied, saying that soldiers should die to serve their country. As a civilian, it is understandable to surrender, but as a soldier, it would be the greatest shame to put down your weapons and surrender in the city. You would have no shame to return. My homeland has no face in heaven and earth.
Hearing the shouts of the soldiers guarding the city, Changsheng was both ashamed and admired. What he was ashamed of was that the court had really forgotten these soldiers guarding the border. What he admired was that these soldiers would rather die than surrender and do their duty loyally. These are the real soldiers.
The horse bandits from Maka Mountain must have attacked this city before but failed. In order to reduce casualties, they continued to persuade them to surrender. They were still trying to provoke discord. They just thought that the Tang Dynasty had forgotten them and there was no need for them to fight for the Great Tang again. Tang guarded the border and was loyal.
The soldiers guarding the city swore and retorted, saying that the court had not forgotten them. They were born as people of the Tang Dynasty and died as the ghosts of the Tang Dynasty.
As a bystander, Changsheng could hear that these soldiers' rebuttal lacked confidence. In fact, they also knew that they had been abandoned, but they just didn't want to believe this cruel fact.
Hearing this, Changsheng could no longer hold back. He drew his sword out of its sheath, shook the reins and rode his horse towards the city. "Li Changsheng, General of the Tang Dynasty Hussars, is here with orders..."
